


Odd

by imladrissun



Category: The Disaster Artist (2017), The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room - Greg Sestero & Tom Bissell
Genre: Gen, Immortal, M/M, Other, Vampires, vampires or something
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-02-17 09:47:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13074303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imladrissun/pseuds/imladrissun
Summary: There was no other word for it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is nonsense, don't bother bringing reality in. You need to be illogical and in the 5th dimension to read this anyway; no normalness.

 

There were a few things left out of the book. The first was that Greg had worked hard to achieve a wooden, blasé look when doing public events. It was the first of many things he changed for the book. 

Among the others were that he still had panic attacks before having to do interviews, and that Tommy was actually more than mortal. He had used to obliquely hint it, but had finally come out with it one random day. 

Another was the post-recording debacle, but that got involved. He had never really seen him cry before, and it had sapped most of his righteous anger. Now that they were touring for the new movie, they stayed in the same hotel room together. Tommy had always covered the real reason with subtle [well, subtle for him] excuses that vaguely implied he was so possessive and jealous that he wanted to keep Greg to himself. To do what with, no one was really sure; he didn't act like he was sure either, weirdly.

It was because Tommy had witnessed enough of his panic attacks that they had often slept in the same bed out of habit, after a while. He sometimes got them at night for some reason, like some kind of conscious night terror episode, but not. He had then simply picked Greg up after trying to comfort him, and put him in bed. [He would take off his shoes, but not his belt; it seemed fitting]. 

In the bed, he would wrap him in an extra comforter [why Tommy had an extra laying around was unknown] like a burrito, and then rub his arm. For hours upon hours. It felt like the only thing keeping him tethered to earth sometimes; it was invaluable. [Though when people asked him why he kept up their friendship, he couldn't mention it... or so many other things]. If Greg didn't fall asleep quickly he would segue into humming melodies in a foreign language run through his whisper-level voice. The later it got, the more the words were slightly slurred, in any language. 

They'd never really talked about it, despite how Tommy typically wasn't the most reliable source of all time. He kept the secret. Ironically, Greg had no equal thing to keep mum about. Other than the eventual admittance of extra-ordinary status. 

But even that wasn't a surprise. Somehow, it was what he'd expected all along. In the light of that revelation, he had looked back at things Tommy had said in a different light. And he realized that he had practically offered to change him in some way, to elevate him above a mortal status. 

He still wasn't sure what his answer was. Tommy didn't hound him about it, but he did sometimes give him a quiet look, and Greg knew exactly what it meant. He was pretty sure Tommy's real life was something from Highlander.

He didn't know if he was ready to make such a big change, regardless of whether it was survivable. For the moment, anyway, Tommy was preoccupied with his happiness at the film he'd written for him. It had been a thousand Christmases rolled into one for him. It was nice to give him a gift; he was someone who loved giving Greg things. Especially things for good luck, which he'd come to understand was more of a special ritual to help with his anxiety problems than anything else. 

It was probably some ancient mythology or religious symbolism, but it did seem to have an effect. Part of it seemed to do with myrrh, as he had later smelled a candle at the mall idly and was surprised to find it had the same smell as part of one of his little pre-event for Greg ceremonial moments. The few times he had asked him about historical events, or particular cities, he'd gotten a viewpoint that he was pretty sure reflected a few hundred years ago. 

Tommy loved his reputation: it protected him. All anyone saw was the weirdness, the outbursts, the unpredictability. And he himself had kept a lot out of the book. It was no joke that it was only 40% true. That was for real. The funny part was he'd said that to Tommy when explaining what he wasn't going to put into the story. 

Tommy didn't care about any of the bad stuff he'd actually done being in there, but he objected to some of the more touching, intimate moments. He didn't want to be seen as soft, Greg had realized. Anything personal between them was somehow too sacred to touch, or even mention. 

He'd resorted to making up a few of the scenarios; while they did mirror actual things that happened, they were so changed and had so much less intensity that both he and Tommy were satisfied. Any fondness was out. It was all tough guy. Of course, Tommy had a different definition of what 'tough' and 'guy' meant, and what would contradict that, so a lot got left in that he'd expected him to object to.

He hadn't really told anyone about their habit of staying together when they weren't traveling. As well as when they were on trips at the same time. It was somehow soothing to have Tommy as a buffer to the world. Both in private and in public, he could talk for both of them. He could cover Greg's shyness, his anxiousness, his moments of being lost in his own world, and thoughts. 

Tommy could successfully redirect any question, comment or exclamation so well and so fast that people almost uniformly gave up pretty quickly. No one could bother Greg with him there. It was a strange form of protection, and he often enjoyed it, even. He got down at certain times of the year, and Tommy knew to recognize it now. 

Not that they'd discussed it. For all that Tommy took prescribed medication himself, he'd never had Greg take anything. He made him gross herbal tea and sometimes rubbed terrible smelling lotions into the soles of his feet when he got so tired he didn't get up for a few days. Greg appreciated the lack of discussion around it. 

He'd expected Tommy to eventually, even unwittingly, bend for just one second and mention it. But he hadn't yet. He'd thought it would definitely happen when he told him about his idea to give the young actor the voice recordings. Tommy had not reacted how he'd expected. 

"Ehhh, secret tape, so so. Shrug for it. Okay." And with that he'd loaned out those tapes, with the caveat of no one hearing them, and getting them all back. He'd only gotten to hear the least crazy ones, but it was still a kind of invasion of privacy. 

The young men had marveled at their daily phone calls, which Tommy found hilarious, but they just didn't understand them. While Tommy seemed uber-confident, he actually needed to tell someone everything he'd been doing to feel accomplished and proud. For his own part, Greg loved being needed. He was desperate for it, to matter that much to someone. It let him feel like he was out of the doldrums. 

There were many strange things about Tommy that people just didn't have the full story on -- and they both liked it that way. He often wore a watch on both wrists just to look spiffy, and felt his belts were a fashion statement that would soon catch on. Greg had tried it a few times, just out of curiosity. And when Tommy had taken him to meet some of his 'associates', he had done it as well. 

He'd gotten the sense he was going into an episode of any of the myriad programs on immortal beings, and he'd thought right. The other people made Tommy look like he had emerged from a Norman Rockwell scene. And when a few of them implied he was Tommy's man candy, he hadn't even cared. Besides, Tommy was busy cussing the guy out for it, who was beginning to look worried. 

While they could act extremely non-bro-like in the privacy of one of Tommy's fancier apartments [he'd eventually revealed others to Greg, and given him keys to some], he was very old fashioned in public. He couldn't stand for anyone to try to besmirch Greg's honor in public, nevermind that the man in question didn't care. Tommy had a habit of giving him pieces of art, and ancient jewelry, that he was sure were more museum level antiques than something anyone should be touching without a special glove on. 

He did like his collection of artifacts, though. Tommy liked to leave them in his apartment and later feign surprise when Greg mentioned the item. Not that he was very good at feigning anything with him. He had initially pretended, very late on after they started living together again, that he was a regular person. This time, it had given way due to his collection of oranges [many varieties were involved], that Greg knew were being used for some extraordinary purpose; and due to his revelation of extreme strength. 

He'd thought Greg had gotten a hand stuck under an appliance accidentally, but he'd misinterpreted. Before he realized that all was good, he'd ripped apart a metal machine with his bare hands. After he'd looked over Greg's hand, still thinking he was injured, he'd finally understood he'd jumped to the wrong conclusion. 

Then he'd slowly looked up at him, grasping that his friend now knew he could do far more than a normal person. Tommy had seemed afraid of his judgement. It was an unfamiliar look, and it was terrible to see on him. Inside one of their apartments, alone with him, he didn't wear his glasses. "My hero," he'd said quietly, and his quirky, superhuman bff had looked so relieved and grateful that he hadn't even minded the ten minute hug he'd gotten himself into afterwards.


	2. Chapter 2

While Greg is supposedly the more normal one, his façade of being average hides all his differences. He has a hard time smiling with people he doesn't know, especially if there are cameras around. He also isn't great at meeting new people. 

Tommy could make friends with a Klingon easily, in comparison. He's open to everything and everyone. A strangely bottomless well of positivity. He loves talking to other people. Christmas is his favorite time of year; they've always mentioned his love of everything American and Thanksgiving, but they rarely discuss this. 

He goes way overboard on decorating, and has things that are out of date everywhere, like stacked up towers of clove-studded oranges, of course. He goes to mass at midnight, and Greg goes with him. It's a small church out in the boondocks, it always seems, no matter where they are in the world. The few people there are ordinary small people with a few wealthier standouts mixed in. And then them. The churches are invariably plain, stone walls, and not too ornate. All old, unchanged by time. 

Tommy has very specific ideas about what they should eat during certain days [all of it new and a little weird tasting to his friend], and Greg finds it vaguely interesting. He covers the welcome mat at the door of the apartment [whichever they're in at the time] with hay; he doesn't ask. 

He always ends up finding it around the rooms in strange places.

There a few concessions to modern Americana, though, and he defers to Greg's judgement on modern food and the tree. There are always candles everywhere; Greg is always half-on safety watch because of it. Tommy does not love the invention of the electric light. 

His apartment smells amazing during the holidays; instead of the smell of resins and amber, it smells like spices and gingerbread. It's very relaxing, even with Tommy pacing around talking. Even when it's just Greg, he walks around as he talks; subsumed into this expansive energy. [It's against a unique background of the Gregorian chant he likes to have on the cd player at Christmas].

They've never talked about what really was said in that car before he told Greg to get out, but he can tell that's why he insists Greg pick what movie they watch. It's their thing: to watch films and discuss them. He's almost gotten to the point where he can forgive him, because he can see with the benefit of hindsight that Tommy had legitimate concerns. 

He had just been so oblivious that he'd missed all of his overtures in terms of what he could 'offer' him. He's thinking more and more about inquiring as to what would happen if he did decide to accept and become some longer lived person. Tommy had been so insecure and wounded back then that he'd lashed out, afraid all Greg wanted was to attain his level of power. He's obliquely had him practice, but Greg's played dumb [while letting it happen]. 

There's been a few items that were explained away as optical illusions, but Tommy had been way too interested in how they changed when Greg handled them. 

Choosing presents for him is a nightmare, unsurprisingly, but Tommy always acts pleased with whatever he picks. It's usually hard for Greg to voice a detailed opinion, much less pick out something perfect for someone so literally one of a kind. Books are usually a good move, especially since his bookcases are filled with tomes written in older versions of several languages.

He always gets a few on psychology, since that's one of his favorite topics. He's explained the tripartite soul and other ancient philosophical, and other, concepts to Greg at length. It's like listening to the radio, except he can make requests that always get heard. Tommy is good at reading his nonverbal cues, but not always those of others.


	3. Chapter 3

He was flattered when Greg interviewed him for the book those few times. Later on, when he was frozen in disbelief at the manuscript he handed him, Greg realized that he must have thought it was an excuse on his part to talk to him. It wasn't. He immediately sat down and started reading. He didn't bother with a chair, just parked himself right there on the floor of the kitchen in the apartment. 

Greg waited him out, or tried to, and ended falling asleep in the guest bedroom of this particular apartment; thought technically it was more like 'his' room. It did have a game system he liked to play, books he knew Tommy had thought he'd like and had a lot of clothes already in there. Tommy was like that, over-generous in a way that didn't fit their relationship... yet. The only people he wasn't jealous over were his brother and his mom. He didn't always like to talk to his sibling, though, as the other was the 'respectable' one. While he didn't have a problem with his life or who he hung out with, it was sometimes hard not to unconsciously compare himself to his brother. 

"In book, you seem sad," Tommy repeated, and he woke up to see his friend sitting on the edge of the bed. The room was dark; he must have turned off the lights when he found him asleep. 

He couldn't see his face, but he could hear in his voice that he was upset; emotional, even. 

Greg refrained from asking at 'which' part of the story he had gotten to, or what he was talking about. His statement could relate to a lot of things. 

"It was a hard part of my life; I was growing up. Trying to be an actor was too draining; I was tired," he explained. Silence answered his statement. "What did you think?" he continued. "Did you like any part of it?"

He was expecting a hard no from him, which was fine. While the book was a great story, it was hard to see yourself reflected back with all your warts. 

"It good, adventure," Tommy opined, but kept going. "You make me worry. Aimless, lost -- in the forest. I thought you had plan, following me, but you just drifting. The whole way. " Greg was taken aback; where were the angry complaints about what he did/said/didn't do/lied about/messed up/etc? "Not healthy," Tommy said seriously, and got up, and left his room. The door shut quietly behind him. 

Well, he was awake now; there was no way he could not be.


	4. Chapter 4

Tommy had the terrible habit of calling and texting at all hours. He alternated between being annoyed and enjoying the endless barrage. When Tommy was busy, and the messages slowed, it actually felt weird. He often sent photos of things he wanted them to do together, ranging from climbing the hardest to scale mountains in China [never going to happen] to swimming in fancy marble pools in Morocco [the movie probably wouldn't be popular there, so what excuse would they use to go -- but he did want to try the food, so okay].

That wasn't to say that Tommy wasn't hard to handle at times, because he was. And this was other than his difficulty with other people, with socializing, with being criticized, or with thinking he was being criticized [but he was actually misinterpreting things]. He felt he got the final say on what cologne Greg wore, regardless of if he had only noticed it for the first time. He liked to have things delivered to Greg's apartment, and also his hotel rooms. The first time, when he'd come back to his room for the night while in London, alone, he'd be confused, then worried. 

Then he saw how the item was wrapped inside the bag -- it had clearly been specific, and related through a phone call, he'd guess. It was just like how Tommy wrapped gifts at Christmas, but as a stranger's approximation to verbal instructions on his method. 

It became something he looked forward to. He got a lot of stuff in cashmere, for some reason. Blankets, socks, scarves. It was a little weird. 

When he visits other countries, he travels light and gets things when he needs them. He's just grabbing a few things at the grocery store when a car almost clips him as he crosses the street. It's a shock, and he rushes back to his hotel room, shaken up. He calls Tommy on autopilot and it's only a few minutes later that he realizes what he's said. "I want to do it now. I'm only getting older and I don't want to not be here to do it."

Tommy, to his credit, can interpret his panicked, awkward nonsense much better than a normal person could, and with much more aplomb. He has often seemed to instinctively know what Greg is talking about, somehow. "You mean like me," he says, but it's more of a statement than a question. "We can do this anytime. Maybe you come home and we do it?"

He sounds hopeful, but Greg has no attention to spare. He resists mentioning what happened instinctively because one, it's a car hurting person situation [too similar to what Tommy really went through], and also because Tommy gets very upset if he thinks he's hurt. He talks him down from his near hysterical feelings and Greg falls asleep while still on the phone.

So they have a general date set now, he thinks when he wakes up. The phone is still on, but he doesn't want to ask if Tommy's still there. He can hear typical morning noises in the kitchen, in the distance, so he thinks he must have forgotten his phone in his bedroom and left it on. He deliberately doesn't think about whether or not Tommy actually sleeps. He thinks he does, but laying down and resting is the not the same as the REM sleep that humans must have to live. 

He knows he should ask more questions about what exactly he's going to be 'becoming', but it feels like this unnamed fear. He kind of doesn't want to know; he just wants it to be over with, and then he can react to it. Laying there by his phone feels safe, and he doesn't want to break the spell. For the first time he realizes how sensitive his friend is when dealing with him on the phone post-crisis. 

Tommy must have been able to hear how upset he was just from his voice alone, much less from the rest of the conversation, but he didn't ask what happened, he didn't press him. Less than a week later he's in Tommy's apartment, accepting a glass of water from him as he puts his suitcase down. This time, he didn't bother going to his nearby rooms. He changed his home address on uber to Tommy's main apartment, and came straight there from the airport. His rooms smell like myrrh, like usual. Tommy is the same as always, greeting him effusively.

He drops the glass by accident right after he confirms to Tommy that he wants to 'change' and 'be like him'. When he wakes up he realizes that's because the water was drugged; and that Tommy only handed it over to him after he'd reaffirmed his decision. He still feels the same, he reflects, and realizes he's wrapped in a white fluffy comforter in the room Tommy keeps set up for him at his place. 

When he tries to open the door, he breaks the knob off by accident; so his friend's super-strength has a source, he realizes. 

Tommy appears, apparently summoned by the noise, and looks him over. For what Greg doesn't know. "How you feel?" he says seriously, and Greg shrugs. "Like usual."

"I do it fast so you not worry," Tommy explained, looking a little guilty. "Now you safe. No car is threat to you. Nothing is." Greg just looks at him. How could he know about that? He didn't even mention it to his own family, or to anyone else. Tommy notices his speculative look and waves his hands, and then leads him to sit down on the couch. "I just hear you think very loud about it, okay? But I not say anything. See, I respecting you," he finishes proudly. 

Greg just looks at him. That was not what he'd expected him to say. That wasn't on the roster of possible word combinations. Tommy hastens to fill the silence, looking almost as if he's afraid Greg will be mad at him. "Now you need no things, no food, no sleep. Free, now you do anything you want."

This is when Greg suddenly notices they are both in direct sunlight with no effect; and also it hits him that Tommy isn't a literal vampire. There's no blood or violence, he's just immortal. Just something else. He concentrates for a second and tries to see if he can hear Tommy think; all he can hear is the ticking of the clock, and also the coffee maker rumbling. Tommy knows he likes it. 

Tommy is looking worried, Greg realizes, coming back to himself, so he reaches out and takes his hand. His friend almost startles at that. For someone so openly possessive and loving [towards himself in particular, he can admit in the privacy of his own thoughts], he is not very touchy with Greg. He's never gone after him, put a hand on him, and doesn't ever try anything. Now Greg feels like he would kind of welcome it, an excuse to try it. He's not always good at taking chances.

"You are..." he tries to say, but he can't do it. He changes tacks. "Don't ever leave me," he says, surprising himself. That makes no sense, he thinks, as Tommy clasps his hand and hurriedly reassures him he won't. It's always been the other way around. Even when he left his old apartment the first time, all those years ago, he had been surprised and upset to see him go, despite the circumstances and how it seemed he'd be happier with his roommate gone. 

At least he has forever to figure this out, he reasons. He's half listening to Tommy's soothing rambling; somehow's he's gotten to talking about investments and Roth IRAs. What that has to do with this, he's not sure. He feels like he's going to need all that time to understand himself, too. In a way, Tommy is simpler than him; he knows what he wants and goes after it. He does what he wants to do, and doesn't feel the need to justify it to other people, society or god, it seems. Greg doesn't know what he wants. Sometimes his feelings are a mystery to he himself, one that he doesn't always feel up to exploring.


	5. Chapter 5

Tommy always wants to hear what he thinks of the movie before it officially comes out. The one about them, that is. It's hard for him to put it into words; in the film he's a cheerful, dumb little character, which feels weird. Although he was technically that naive many, many times during his young years, so he's not annoyed by it. He knows why Tommy wants to hear his opinion on the film; they were both sent rough cuts, though Tommy supposedly wanted to see it for the first time at the premiere. 

He's not the best at waiting, or at delayed gratification, though. Greg is sure he's seen it, seeing as he suddenly asks him for his own opinion on it. It's strange to see what is technically his book, his own personal story, changed into more of a 'Tommy point of view' tale. And yet, that's probably how Tommy did actually feel things happened. He does have a tendency to forget things easily [if he thinks they're unimportant... even if that includes information literally everyone else would memorize]. He also is not good at understanding implicit cues, or unspoken implications. Or reading a room's mood. 

Greg has always felt too hesitant to break any rules; Tommy isn't paying any attention, ever, to the fact that there are any rules, for anything. The movie is like a kind of look into how Tommy sees things, and through that lens Greg is a boring, quiet oddball. He can see everything more clearly with the movie as a reenactment. Tommy had tried to reach out to him again and again, had tried to make a life with him, but Greg was basically oblivious to everything, on every level. 

He never does get around to telling him what he thinks. Now that he's going to be around for a.... while... he decides he can try to be more forthright with his friend. They're kind of more than friends, but it's almost scary to make that mental jump to something more. Even if it's just a label. Of course, his first few efforts at being more straightforward go awry, and Tommy thinks he's getting sick. 

Admittedly, he has become a little more confusing and louder inadvertently when he's been sick in the past. Mostly due to being so stuffed up or out of it that he can't tell how loud he's talking. Tommy overreacts in general and also insists they order in chicken noodle soup for dinner and watches their usual nighttime film with him on a laptop in his room. He feels sorry for Tommy's obvious worry, as he seems to be nervous and upset to think of Greg as ill. It's only the next morning that he realizes that's probably because he's not supposed to be able to become sick. He's special, better now. He'll live forever, or something to that effect, though he still eats and sleeps normally all the time. 

He often tries to see if he can do anything extraordinary, but other than an increase in some physical strength, nothing seems different. It seems ironic, yet expected, that he would become something greater than human and yet be utterly average and uninteresting at it. Typical. 

He mostly tries for psychokinesis, but that never works. One day he realizes he should try stuff like picking lottery numbers, but several tries show he's got no talent at that either. He doesn't have any memorable or future-specific dreams, so that's out as well. 

He's begun reading some of the books Tommy added to his room's bookshelves, only now noticing how many of them are about people who are immortal for one reason or another. While Tommy is go go go, he's more staid and prone to lounging around doing nothing. His friend has a litany of appointments, meetings, meet and greets, autograph signings, and he can only drag Greg to so many -- then he gets tired of it and returns to the couch. It's some time before he realizes that alcohol no longer has an effect on him.


	6. Chapter 6

Greg finally bones up on his Anne Rice. Life continues on like usual, and half the time he forgets that anything changed at all. Tommy is his usual self; even less weird than usual, if that's possible. His oddness has always given him the courage to do what he wants to do without fear of judgement. 

What he decides he wants to do is write another book, this time just total fiction. It's not like there's a time limit on completing now; he's going to supposedly have forever to fill up. It's like a secret promise and something too special to talk about directly. He likes it and keeps it at a distance. He's wants to do a book -- a story -- all by himself, not that he wasn't grateful for the help before. He doesn't mention it to anyone, but just tells Tommy he's working on something. They're not always in the same city, and Greg starts taking the opportunity to travel. Especially since Tommy had a courier bring him a set of papers; they hadn't left the doorway, and he'd realized with a start that it was an actual lawyer, not a delivery guy. 

The papers said he had ownership of some land, a lot of bank accounts and some other stuff. He and Tommy hadn't talked about it. It was a little too close to what you gave a spouse, and they were working on the 'sweet on' phase, on step one. He needed some space. He only had one engagement where he was talking about the book for a while... so he decided to travel a little after it. There were a few things he wanted to see, he thought, so he just went on his own and walked around foreign towns. If people didn't recognize him in Europe, he pretended he was French by default. It was fun. 

He picked up a few little presents for Tommy, and one nice one, to surprise him. 

During their daily phone calls, or really, multiple times a day if we're being honest, Tommy rarely questioned what he was doing. He liked to talk, and Greg let him. Tommy had the energy and did enough activities for about seven people in one. But recently he had begun asking him more personal questions. It was technically strange, which fit his personality, but he wasn't someone who pried, so it was a little weird at first. Greg often floundered for a response. He just wasn't used to it. 

"What you dream -- now? Hmmm?" he had asked, and Greg had hesitated. Did he want to mention his secret book project? He didn't want anyone to read it, much less comment on it. "You want to be free?"

He looked at the phone, confused. That wasn't what he'd expected. "You are, okay?" Tommy continued. "Don't think not."

"What do you mean?" he said, but Tommy was already cutting him off. "You and me, you know? You still have mean girls, it okay. Don't worry. Yes, I am vampire," he said the word with a flourish, as if it were both unique and distasteful. "I have eyes, in my head. I know."

It seemed like the rest of the conversation passed in a flash, while Tommy rambled about something and Greg hmm'ed in reply, and then it was over. Greg spent the better part of the day trying to parse what had happened, because something had. He could tell. Tommy had been self-depricating but it had also been defensive, almost sad-tinged in some way. 

He was dozing in the early morning when it came to him: he was saying he was romantically free. Not beholden to him. 

But being set free made him all the more willing to come home. Had Tommy meant he could see he liked women or that even he could tell he was not attractive? He had used the word vampire before to imply that about himself in private conversations. It was one of the few things he would acknowledge weren't perfect about himself. His body was excellent, yes, in many ways he was extremely buff. His face, not so typical. He had obliquely referenced his feelings on the subject in the past, and Greg had stayed quiet, unsure what to say. 

He hadn't wanted to sound too pat and insincere, especially given his actual job of modeling. It was hard to know how to show that he himself found his weird eyes and goth hair kind of appealing. It was more than looks that made a person matter, anyway. He'd been told he was a dead behind the eyes, stupid pretty boy while working more than once. It kind of got to you. Tommy's personality made him attractive more than the superficial pieces. 

And it was true he liked women, but no one had ever been satisfied with him. He knew he was too quiet, simple, average. Too boring. He didn't blame any of them. Tommy was the one person who liked him just as he was. He didn't care what he did, no matter how unmanly, or cliche, or macho, or even alien-crazy. 

He decided to go home. Tommy revolved around his home base, even though he traveled a lot. He always went back in between trips.

When Greg got back to his main apartment, he wasn't around; which was fine, as he hadn't mentioned he was coming by. He'd wanted it to be a surprise. Then he had a stroke of genius come to him -- and he left the gifts he'd picked up for him along the way out on the table and went to his old cafe hangout. It was very surfer, very laid back, and very hard to find. People looked out for you there, so he took a quick nap on a giant chair for a few hours. 

By the time he returned to Tommy's place, the man in question had appeared. He waved his hands at him. "All this? --" he started, but Greg had him beat this time. 

"I got you," he said, and pointed to the stuff on the table. "This is all backwards. I surprised you, for once." Tommy was speechless. It was true that Greg hadn't really ever showered him with secret presents the way he had. At the time, it had seemed eccentric, medieval-ish and too emotional to deal with.

Now, he was ready to start getting a handle on it. Tommy looked almost comically unsure about this change of the norm. "What, I can't show you I care about you?" he said, feeling a little bold. "You've done it a lot of times." To offset the awkwardness, he scooted forward and hugged him. Tommy kind of pet his shoulder in response; he judged it a success, and smiled to himself against his hair. He never thought of Tommy as shorter than him until confronted with the evidence; his larger than life presence, his energy, had always belied his stature. Greg bet most people would have sworn he was taller just due to that.


	7. Chapter 7

Being together isn't very different from their current relationship, it turns out. Almost nothing changes, except what they do after the movie. And also sometimes he kisses him on the cheek when greeting him after the usual hug.

Tommy doesn't really seem to prefer to initiate anything on his own, which would be strange except for the fact that he thinks it's connected to his past. He seems a little traumatized by things Greg only knows hints of, and he's sure there's other centuries he hasn't mentioned at all. It's sad to think of. He does appear to like it all though, which is good and also important. He wouldn't want to start anything if the other person wasn't feeling really into it. 

He'd always found Tommy's slogans about love and the world kind of simplistic and vague, but if they are a direct reaction to what he's been through in the past, they mean something else. More than platitudes. He still finds nice quotes about Greg from the media, and critics, and reads them to him, all excited. Greg doesn't feel that much about it anymore, but it's a sweet gesture. 

While he'd implied he knew a lot more about Tommy's real history in the book, he actually doesn't. He didn't even really ask him about it. It turns out he has a general, unspecific 'mortal' past in case people try to investigate [like the documentary guy he keeps making the 'shame' videos about; apparently Greg is the only one who can create things about him], and then he has his real past. 

While he still can't remember his security system keycode.... which is unfortunately still 1 2 3 4 since he won't let Greg update it, he does remember poetry and historical letters, and can quote them at length. A visit to the desert with him means he tells him, "I met a traveler from an antique land, who said, --" and goes on. 

Then he tells him the other poem that was competing with that one at the time. They're similar but still very distinct. It takes three days before he realizes that that one in particular is almost like their actual situation. He is the traveler from an antique land; to him, he probably just met Greg a minute ago. His whole perception of time is probably different than a regular person's. 

One of Greg's favorite things to do with him is go to museums, for two reasons. One is that he knows an eerie amount about many different time periods, eras in ancient Egyptian history, and ancient religions from all over the world. He always throws in facts that are not on any of the placards or informational wall displays. 

When Greg checks them out later, they're always right. Tommy's an encyclopedia on something no one would ever think to ask him about. The other reason he likes their excursions is that Tommy wears the best 'normal person' costumes. He insists they need to be in disguise to mingle with the public. 

He always wants Greg to wear some strange clothing combination he's picked out for him, and yes, sunglasses too. Most of the time he agrees. It's always interesting to see Tommy without his five belts. They're a birthday gift Greg has always given him, sure in the certainty that he loves them. 

They almost always get recognized when they're out in public in the U.S., so it's nice to just fly under the radar sometimes. Tommy always gets assailed by people wanting photographs in Whole Foods for some reason, although he must admit that he buys them a lot of groceries. He likes there to be a lot of choices, despite often enjoying ramen noodles. By choice. 

That's something Greg feels is the true mystery. How could you be a literal immortal and want that all the time? For all that he disdains Greg's love of cereal, he certainly buys him quite a few for the cupboards. 

On the new, just him trying it book front, things have paused -- as Tommy brought him a manuscript from a 'friend' that wants to know if Greg can turn it into a real book. Right now it's a bunch of bullet points... a few hundred pages of them, to be exact. He'd assumed it was from his friend in the first few seconds of him mentioning it, only to then grasp that it's from a real friend of his. And that person is probably as old as he is. 

As in very old. The plot, as far as he can see from the terse bullet points, is more of a Roman epic leading into the late Middle Ages more than anything else. The style of the pages of notes is very Hemingway; dry, straight to the point, brusque yet very sad by implication. He's kind of intrigued. Tommy only brings him closer to that unknown world of ancient people once in a while. 

Whenever he wishes he had more contact with those others or just more information about being different in general, he's quickly dissuaded from it. Every time Tommy starts to tell him more he gets weirded out and distracts him from continuing. He's very distractible.


	8. Chapter 8

Tommy loves to read stuff about himself online. Unfortunately this means he alerts Greg to whatever's hip and new. ... Both in general and about them. He has no interest in memes, and also no interest in hearing about what other people say about him. It only makes him feel upset in some indefinable way. It's strange but true, so he's learned to accept it about himself. 

Tommy has learned this, well the last part at least, so he just tells him things he thinks he'll like. As per usual, he's only about 30% correct. He loves to send him one gif of he himself tossing a football towards him while Tommy totally ignores it and keeps speaking to the interviewer. In the gif, Greg smiles at the camera at how ironic the whole incident is. 

He has no idea why Tommy finds that so funny. He's the one that didn't notice the football. When he eventually just asks him, he gets an answer he was not expecting. Really, that's on him, as he should know by now not to expect anything he expects in these cases. "It good one," his friend explains. "You smiles for real; happy. I be straight man. A good photo of both of us."

Greg constantly gets asked about Tommy being his best friend. He doesn't like their tone, any of the people who ask, but he also can't verify it 100%. Tommy takes pains to act 'like regular friend' in public, and it needs to stay that way. Greg does not want to open a door that he'll regret; the private door has basically never even existed, it's a hallway. 

Saying anything too positive about Tommy has the opposite effect you'd think it would -- he inevitably finds out [how, Greg's not sure; he must have Google alerts on himself or something] and then tells him "he not need to say that." Like he's lying if he says anything nice during an interview. Only Tommy would prefer lukewarm tolerance to more charitable sound bites. 

Another thing he left out of the book was that everyone, literally, asked him if Tommy was paying him as a kept man. They were careful to ensure he didn't hear them, but Greg is offended on his behalf all the same. Somehow, it's easier to be defending his friend than defending himself. The whole point is that they actually like hanging out, there's no money or anything illicit going on. 

Tommy always acts like he's fragile. Even emotionally, with a few outstanding exceptions. Some people even asked him if Tommy had something on him, or if he hurt him, both of which were hard to understand. He just wasn't that type of person. Now that they actually do have more close, private moments, it's all very vanilla, all the time. 

Greg is okay with that, after all, everyone's always told him he's a vanilla kind of guy. They just used other words to say it. 

He still hasn't used any of the money Tommy gave him. Although technically he did get a lot of money from the book that is about him, and the residuals from being in the movie [since it's still being shown all the time]. He has a feeling the other people on the film are not getting much compared to what Tommy has sent to him for that over the years. It would feel weird to use this new money. 

When people ask him what other crazy things Tommy does nowadays, he picks a few things, but they're always out of context. Their real life is much more blasé and much more weird, all at the same time. For example, he still wants him to pose for an oil painting. Of himself. Greg is not at that level of self-involvement, or unselfconsciousness, yet. 

He's still looking over those thousands of bullet points in the potential book for Tommy's old friend. One of his grocery store friends [he sees several all the time, so now they chat when there] asks about what projects Greg's working on -- Tommy reports to him while unpacking bags full of several varieties of rice pilaf, describing all of the young hollywood men with such confusing and ever-changing descriptors that it could be anyone from Seth Rogan to someone Greg's never heard of -- but he doesn't know what to say. 

He would prefer if people didn't ask about him, but that ship seems to have sailed. He takes the pilaf boxes [it wasn't even on the list] silently and puts them in the cupboards as Tommy continues telling him what everyone said. He likes to let Greg know in detail. He finally settles on an answer, and interjects it randomly during Tommy's spiel. "Make up something crazy, and tell them I'm doing that." 

This could go either way, he thinks. It could be so outlandish people are shocked by it, or it could be so boring that no one even remembers it. Tommy's idea of what 'crazy' is, it's definitely unique.


	9. Chapter 9

Greg gets into quiet, hard to notice, passive aggressive fights with his family all the time. That episode in the book wasn't the first time his mother interfered in his life in a cruel, horrendous way, and it wouldn't be the last. Tommy was a kind of refuge from all that.

When things are good, Greg doesn't mind living alone, but when things are bad on that front he likes to stay over more at his friend's rooms. He thinks it's important not to totally move in, if only because they both need space sometimes. And also because of boundaries and all that. 

Tommy is often up at all hours, yes, but some of that is his sewing projects. He doesn't just like to design clothes, he makes pieces himself all the time. While he will sometime have tailors make his suits [usually only Polish immigrant tailors are judged to the best, in his unbiased opinion, he's told Greg many times] he likes to make clothes for Greg as well. 

He wears them around the house sometimes. They're more The Row pyjamas [oversized often, and super soft] than his website clothes, but he does not inquire, as that might lead to an hours long discussion of clothes, fashion, tailoring, sewing, and cloth. He knows way too much about different types of cloth. 

His friend may be eccentric and often a penny-pincher in particular situations, but he also likes to get magazines. Dozens are always coming the apartment. Greg's kind of gotten into Potato Review, Romantic Homes, Discover Britain's Gardens and Stained Glass Quarterly [but not Sew News, which Tommy informs him has over 90,000 subscribers].

Tommy always wants him to go to other, more esoteric events, but it's hard to pick out which to attend. The polo match or the croquet tournament? He's currently mulling that over, weirdly not hungover from the night before, while Tommy lounges on the other couch reading I Love Cats.

He's wearing turquoise strappy sandals again, not the men's variety, but Greg has long learned not to comment on gendered things to him. He inevitably learns way too much about how older societies viewed things. Greg usually feels lucky that he's not dressed odder than he already is. 

Greg has decided to finally read the set of Proust his friend gave him last year, telling him it was one of the greatest giant books of all time. So far it's been a trip. 

He usually rejects his other potential gifts, which are too flashy for him. Tommy has finally learned that he will literally mail him back anything with a brand name on it [most of the time]. Weird ancient stuff is okay, modern bling is not. Reading magazines is one of his favorite lazy Sunday afternoons. He's gotten tons of emails, voice mails and offers to do stuff over these last couple years, but usually says no. He just doesn't have the energy. 

It's kind of like how Tommy says something similar when he tries to get him to make another movie, to write something new. He's always said it was too hard, and that Greg didn't understand. At the time, that was true. Now he thinks he does understand. He should be thrilled to get all these offers, but he's not, not really. It was easier before, just coasting along doing a few things here and there. He grabs his phone and starts googling causes of low energy, and then puts both vitamin D and B12 on the list. Tommy prefers to do the grocery shopping, which results in many unnecessary purchases, several varieties of things they only need one of, and enough energy drinks to take out a zombie army if you used them as projectiles.

It's fine, though, because he enjoys it and loves the attention he gets in public, and Greg loves staying at home, trying to decide what to read next.


End file.
